Sneering, Greer turned from the windows and took one involuntary step backward.

Daemon Sadi stood by the closed door, his hands in his trouser pockets, his face that familiar, cool, bored mask. “Lord Greer,” he said in a silky croon.

“Sadi,” Greer replied contemptuously. “The High Priestess sent me with an offer for you.”

“Oh?” Daemon said, raising one eyebrow. “Since when does Dorothea have her favorite act as a messenger boy?”

“This wasn’t my idea,” Greer snapped and immediately changed tack. “I do as I’m told, the same as you. Please.” He gestured with his left hand toward two chairs. “Let’s at least be comfortable.”

Greer stiffened as Sadi glided over to the chairs and gracefully settled into one of them. The way the man moved pricked at him. There was something feline, something not altogether human in that movement. Greer sat in the other chair, the sunlight to his back, so that he could easily observe Sadi’s face.

“I have an offer for you,” Greer repeated. “It doesn’t please me to be the one to bring it.”

“So you’ve said.”

Greer pressed his lips together. There wasn’t even a spark of interest in the bastard’s face. “The offer is this: one hundred years without having to serve in a court, to live where you choose and do what you choose, to spend your time in whatever society amuses you.” Greer paused for dramatic effect. “And the offer includes the same terms for the Eyrien half-breed. Excuse me—your brother.”

“The Eyrien is Ringed by the High Priestess of Askavi. Dorothea has no say as to what is done with him.”

That was a lie, as Sadi well knew, but it annoyed Greer that there were no questions, no subtle changes in voice or expression. Could things have changed? Did he no longer have any interest in Yaslana?

“It’s a generous offer,” Greer said, fighting to control his desire to lash out, to force Sadi to react.

“Beyond words.”

Greer’s left hand clutched the chair. He took a deep breath. He had wanted to do the goading.

“And what’s the string attached to this generous offer?” Sadi said with a feral smile.

Greer shivered. Damn those little idiots. When he was done with them, they’d know how to heat a room! He had to make this offer just right, and it was hard to think with the room so cold. “A good friend of the High Priestess has discovered that her consort has been dallying with a young witch, is besotted with her, in fact. She would like to do something to end that activity, but because of political sensitivities is unable to do anything herself.”

“Mm. I would think that if she wants her consort quietly buried, you’d be more skilled to handle it than I.”

“It’s not the consort she wants buried.” Hell’s fire, it was cold!

“Ah. I see.” Sadi crossed his legs at the knee and steepled his fingers, resting his long nails on his chin. “However, as you must know, my ability to travel is severely limited by the desires of the Queen I’m serving. An unexplained jaunt would be difficult.”